Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. Acquires New Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Grunden Financial Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000. Thomson Reuters accounts for 0.1% of Grunden Financial Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 17.3% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,240,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $755,514,000 after purchasing an additional 919,603 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 26.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,657,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,059,000 after acquiring an additional 1,179,155 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 2.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,584,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 150,880 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 6.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,088,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $500,872,000 after acquiring an additional 240,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the fourth quarter worth $207,419,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of Thomson Reuters stock traded down $2.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $150.84. 380,568 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 304,613. The stock has a market cap of $68.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $156.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $144.07. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 12 month low of $117.46 and a 12 month high of $161.57.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.06. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 39.67% and a return on equity of 14.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $142.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $153.00 target price on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.42.

Thomson Reuters Company Profile

Thomson Reuters Corporation engages in the provision of business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments.